Fran Walsh – MNZM

Year: 1973 - 1974
Occupation: Screenwriter

Fran Walsh, Lady Jackson, MNZM is a screenwriter, film producer and musician. She attended Victoria University of Wellington majoring in English literature and graduated in 1981. She then wrote scripts for television shows such as Shark in the Park and Worzel Gummidge Down Under in the 1980s. Since meeting Peter Jackson at the end of Bad Taste, she has collaborated and contributed to all of Jackson’s films, starting with the black comedy Meet the Feebles (1989). Fran is credited with Jackson and Phillipa Boyens for writing the screenplays for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. She won three Academy Awards in 2003, for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Picture, and Best Original Song, (A shadow lies between us) all for the movie The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. She has received a total of eight Oscar nominations and countless other awards. The trio continued their screenplay work together for the 2005 remake of King Kong and Fran and Jackson collaborated on a film version of the novel The Lovely Bones. Fran is currently Executive producer & writer for the Hobbit.